THE WAR AFTER THE WAR A powerful family drama examines the lasting wounds of Vietnam and the Chicano Moratorium Some family dramas simmer, others explode, and still others leave emotional sh…
Long before a performer steps onto a stage, audiences are already forming impressions. The venue atmosphere, visual presentation, merchandise, lighting, branding, and countless other details…
A COUNTERTENOR WHO KNOWS WHERE THE POWER LIVES Key’mon Murrah and Les Talens Lyriques turn familiar Handel into something freshly urgent The program announced the obvious: nine arias from …
COLD RAIN, HOT CLASSICS Sting ignites Wolf Trap’s summer season Sting opened the summer season with a 3-night stay at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap. On Friday, May 22, his performance eas…
EMPIRE STATE OF MIND A rare jukebox musical that finds fresh life by letting the songs tell the story A jukebox musical is an inheritance. Someone else wrote the songs, lived the life, banke…
JANGLED JAM SESSION This coming-of-age ensemble never quite finds its rhythm In an age where most pre-teens and teens have the world in the palm of their hand via their smartphone, growing u…
SHOPPING FOR MEANING Thornton Wilder’s long-lost play arrives decades late, still reaching for something just beyond its grasp Seventy-five years is a long time to wait for a world premier…
CRAZY FOR PATSY A warm-hearted tribute lets Patsy Cline’s music do most of the talking American Blues Theater closes out its 40th season with a rather left-field choice: the 1988 revue Alw…
SLIGHTLY TOO BIG FOR HIS WORLD Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer-winning drama offers comfort, compassion, and just enough unease beneath the surface A bell rings before the lights come up. Out of th…
BITE MARKS AND BATTLE CRIES Kate Hamill’s revisionist take offers a few fresh ideas, but Dracula remains the real attraction Since its publication in 1897, Bram Stoker’s gothic horror no…
LETTING GO, HOLDING ON A beautifully observed portrait of grief anchored by Quincy Tyler Bernstine’s extraordinary performance If only someone would paint a portrait of Quincy Tyler Bernst…
FIGARO TO THE RESCUE Rossini’s evergreen comedy launches San Francisco Opera’s summer season with charm and style The summer season of San Francisco Opera is officially underway, and t…
HOME IS WHERE THE PHO IS Looking for a real life amidst the demands of AI Directed by cara hinh and written by Minna Lee, this East Coast premiere is alternately hilarious and joyous and, at…
IAGO’S GAME A terrifyingly gripping production driven by a mesmerizing villain and a devastating descent into jealousy Who can resist a good villain? Shakespeare Theatre Company’s curren…
SECOND HELPINGS OF STREISAND A talented roster of singers at 54 Below revisit an early Streisand classic with style, affection, and plenty of bonus treats “My new album is called The Secon…
THE JOINT IS JUMPIN’, IT’S REALLY JUMPIN’ Ebony Rep finds the joy, sorrow, and swing hidden inside Fats Waller’s enduring revue Ain’t Misbehavin’ does not tell the story of Fats …
MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WALL Kip Williams delivers a visually stunning assault on the senses, even when the drama struggles to keep pace A co-production with London’s Donmar Warehouse, The …
TRUTH, CONSEQUENCES, AND CONTAMINATED WATER A superb production of Ibsen’s classic finds unsettling echoes in the present day There are plays that endure because their themes and character…
THE HILLS ARE ALIVE AND WELL This polished national tour reminds audiences why the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic still resonates The national touring production of The Sound of Music is pl…
PUCK BUNNIES AND POWER PLAYS Knowing exactly who it’s playing to, this gleefully ridiculous send-up shoots and scores There are fandoms, and then there are fandoms. The kind that inspires …
DANCING THROUGH THE DECADES A mesmerizing theatrical collage that rewards surrender over analysis One never quite knows what to expect from the good folks at Trap Door Theatre, and I’m sur…
Oedipus El Rey, playwright Luis Alfaro’s reimagining of the Greek myth, transforms the familiar tale of fate and tragedy into an urban contemporary story about incarceration, identity, and…
PUNK, PRAYER, AND PURE CHAOS The Conspirators’ neo-commedia take on Molière finds fresh mischief in a timeless satire What could be better than a saucy, irreverent, seventeenth-century Fr…
REACHING FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM Henry Ong’s final play transforms one man’s remarkable life into a timely cautionary tale Ascent is a small gem. It is not ostentatious enough to be affix…
READING BETWEEN THE LINES OF FAME Broadway’s funniest staged reading proves that truth is often stranger —and funnier—than fiction Yevgeny Yevtushenko famously wrote, “A poet’s aut…